Trust Me Bro: Crypto Council Sides With OCC as Banks Cry Foul Over Charters 🏦

The Crypto Council for Innovation has thrown its weight behind the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's approval of multiple charters for crypto firms, characterizing a lawsuit filed by the Independent Community Bankers of America as a bid to throttle competition. CCI CEO Ji Hun Kim said on Monday that the ICBA's legal action was a "clear attempt to resist national trust charters, payments innovation, and competition in financial services," according to a statement reported by Cointelegraph.

The ICBA filed its suit on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the OCC granted national trust charters to entities, including crypto companies, without applying the safeguards and compliance standards typically required of banks. ICBA president and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said in a Friday statement that "Congress did not create the national trust charter as a side door into the banking system for crypto firms seeking the credibility of a federal bank charter without the Community Reinvestment Act obligations, consolidated supervision, capital and liquidity standards, and FDIC insurance that apply to insured depository institutions."

Among the applicants the OCC has approved or conditionally approved under U.S. President Donald Trump are World Liberty Financial, Circle, Ripple, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo and Paxos. World Liberty Financial, co-founded by members of the Trump family, has drawn particular scrutiny from lawmakers who accused exchanges of seeking to "evade the fundamental safeguards and obligations that come with being a bank." The company has also faced probes over alleged ties to the royal families of the United Arab Emirates.

The approvals were issued under OCC head Jonathan Gould, a Trump pick who has served since July 2025. CCI's endorsement highlights a widening split between traditional banking groups and crypto advocates over how the national trust charter framework should be applied to digital asset firms, with the dispute now headed to federal court.